In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve got strawberry fever.  Not to let the cat out of the bag or anything, but it’s not over yet… If you too are suffering from this affliction, here are a few more recipes you can check out …

It’s almost Friday!  I don’t know about you, but I personally can’t wait for this week to be over… Not just because it’s a holiday weekend either!  Although, working in travel, holiday weekends make for busy weeks because apparently everybody thinks they can wait until the last minute to make a reservation… here’s a tip for all of you out there -

BOOK IN ADVANCE! FAR FAR IN ADVANCE! ALL THE TIME!

That’s my PSA for this week.

Luckily there are things like this to keep me goin’ …

Like this video of a cat eating ice cream… for some reason it amused me to no end, which led to a further internet search of cats eating ice cream, which ended (as far too many searches do) on Buzzfeed.

Nothing too exciting going on in my kitchen (totally almost wrote “catchen”… cats on the brain!)  I did make this super tasty pasta, which may resurface as a real “recipe” in the future, but it’s so easy and tasty I thought I’d give you a breakdown of it in case you’re in a pasta-y mood

Basically just cooked some penne in some salted water, then in another pan I heated some sun-dried tomatoes (with their own oil) along with a glove of garlic until heated and extremely fragrant, then I added some chopped leftover grilled chicken breast, just until heated through, then I added the cooked pasta and a scoop of pasta cooking water and let that cook, tossing, until it formed a nice sauce.  Sprinkled some feta cheese and fresh cut basil on top and voila- dinner! Then I drizzled some balsamic glaze (or a sweeter-aged balsamic would do the trick).  I know it’s a good one when the BF seems surprised at what he is eating lol.  He took a bite, “MMM! This is good!”.

It’s Arizona Restaurant Week and the BF and I tried out Searsucker last weekend.  The food was pretty tasty, but I was bummed that the menu listed on the ARW site didn’t match the one they actually had in the restaurant. *tear

I wrote up a tiny bit of a “review” (more of a pros/cons type deal) which, if you’re interested in trying the restaurant at some point in time (There is one in San Diego & one in Austin, TX) you can check it out.

You may remember for Restaurant Week last year we went to BLT Steak for the first time…. and have gone back about 5 times since then because it was SO GOOD.  I even made their popover recipe!

In non-food-news….

Also, I may be alone in this, but I CAN’T WAIT for the return of Arrested Development.  Do you watch?  If not, you should.  All the old episodes are on Netflix just waiting for you.

Even though all of the episodes for the new season will be available at once, I think I will pace myself and draw it out over a few weeks.  Really give myself time to savor it, ya know?  Plus, now that I have no more of The Following or The Americans to watch, I really need to pace myself on the few shows that I have left.

Sorry that this particular Thursday Things was extra scatterbrained, my original Thursday Things was eaten by the internet, so there almost was no Thursday Things!  But I managed to pull through

Things that are difficult to take pictures of: ice cream, anything shiny, and this strawberry tart.

I almost didn’t post the recipe because I didn’t have any pictures that I deemed worthy, but instead I just settled on this picture, taken with the BF’s iPad.

Why?  Because this recipe needs to be shared, people.  It’s so easy, and so refreshing, and so… perfect.  It’s light, refreshing, and the right amount of sweet.

The kid in me prefers a Nilla Wafer crust, but you could use a regular pie crust all the same, just baked according to its own directions.  You could even use one of those store-bought graham crusts if you were extra short on time, I’m sure it would still taste great!

Strawberry Mascarpone Tart

Makes 1 8- or 9- inch tart

Printable Recipe

For the Crust

•             2 2/3 cups vanilla wafer cookies

•             1 tbsp sugar

•             1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

•             4 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

•             1 egg, whisked with 1 Tablespoon water

For the Filling

•             2 lbs strawberries, stemmed and sliced or quartered

•             1/2 cup white sugar

•             1 Tablespoon lemon zest

•             1 teaspoon lemon juice

•             8 ounces mascarpone cheese

•             4 ounces whipped cream

•             1/2 teaspoon vanilla

•             1/3 cup powdered sugar

•             1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Make the crust

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Crush wafer cookies in a food processor until fine crumbs.  Add melted butter and vanilla extract and continue processing until blended.  Dump into pie or tart pan and press firmly into bottoms and sides (I find using the bottom/sides of a glass to help press makes a big difference).
2. Brush bottom of crust with whisked egg and bake for 10 minutes until golden brown; cool completely (up to overnight) before filling.

Make the filling

1. Toss the strawberries with half of the zest, all of the juice, and sugar in a large bowl; set aside for 30 minutes.
2. While the strawberries are macerating, mix the mascarpone cheese with lemon zest, vanilla, and powdered sugar in a medium bowl until well combined.  Gently fold in the whipped cream; refrigerate until needed.
3. After 30 minutes, strain juice from strawberries into a small saucepan.  Add the balsamic vinegar and bring to a boil of medium heat.  Reduce until thick enough to cover the back of a spoon, it should be like a syrup.  Set aside to cool.

Assemble the tart

1.  Spread the mascarpone mixture over the bottom of the tart shell, top with strawberries (sometimes I arrange them fancily, other times I just dump them on top and spread them out, whatever your preference and energy levels call for that day), brush with balsamic syrup and chill until ready to serve.

[ Adapted from Simply Recipes ]

So, clearly I’ve been on a bit of a strawberry kick lately.  I made my strawberry shortcake ice cream, this strawberry tart (recipe yet to come) for mother’s day, and these glorious things: strawberries and cream cookies.

Yes, they are as magical as they sound.

These soft, pillowy cookies are filled with dried strawberries and white chocolate chips, these are guaranteed to please.  I’m not normally big on white chocolate, but I forgot to check for yogurt chips at the store, which would work just as well.  The white chocolate chips lend more of a “cream” flavor to these cookies though, and I promise that you won’t be disappointed.

The only thing that I regret is not putting more strawberries in, but unfortunately I lost more than anticipated in my, ahem, “quality control” phase.  I also would leave the strawberry chunks larger for the next batch.  I have rectified the issue of the missing strawberries in the recipe below, which should have enough strawberries to satisfy even the biggest of cravings.

I found my dried strawberries at Trader Joes.  You will need at least two bags, one for the cookies and one for yourself.

Strawberry & Cream Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen small cookies

Printable Recipe

• ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

• ¾ cup brown sugar

• ¼ cup sugar

• 1 large egg, room temperature

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¾ to 1 cup dried strawberries*, chopped

• ½ cup white chocolate or yogurt chips

Make the dough:

1.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt.

2.  In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth.  Scrape down the bowl and add the white and brown sugars, cream together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed.  Add the egg and vanilla to the butter and beat until combined.  Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and continue beating about one minute more.

down the sides as needed..

3.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and pulse on low just until incorporated, being careful not to overmix.  Stir in chopped strawberries* and white chocolate chips.

*You could also reserve some of the chopped strawberries to press into the cookie tops once scooped to ensure even distribution.

4. 2 options here:

- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap onto the surface of the dough, and chill for 1 – 2 hours.  Scoop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and bake following directions below.

- Scoop cookie dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet that will fit into your freezer, gently flatten the tops of the cookies and cover with plastic wrap.  Freeze for 1 to 2 hours and either bake (on a new, room-temperature, parchment-lined baking sheet) according to directions below or transfer to a freezer-safe bag for longer storage.

To bake:

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.

2.  Bake chilled cookie dough 8 minutes (refrigerated) to 11 minutes (frozen), until the cookies are puffed and the edges are just golden.

3.  Remove from oven and let cookies cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely

*Baked cookies can be stored up to 10 days in an airtight container.

[ Cookie base recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction ]

So, I saw these on Foodbeast and had two reactions:

1. OMG PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE POP TARTS!?

2. Wait, they existed 27 years ago? Which means that they already did exist, and then were discontinued shortly after my birth?  WTH!?

It was probably for the best, I probably would have weighed 300x the amount I did as a child if these things were around.

Third thought: is it acceptable for a grown up to eat pop tarts?  I’m gonna go with yes on this one… I seriously CAN’T WAIT to find these things in stores.  Can’t.  Wait.  Ima be all

Oh, did I tell you that I just recently realized that after migrating my site to the new server I CAN NOW POST GIFS?

Oh yeah, Thursday Things is gonna be on a whole other level from now on guys.

ON. ANOTHER. LEVEL.

Meanwhile, on the Kitchn, they showed me this magical gem, which every snack addict needs

JUST THINK OF ALL THE SNACKS YOU COULD STORE IN THERE!! Sandwiches… and combos… and just about anything!  Although I imagine it probably gets pretty hot in there… so I don’t recommend using it to store chocolate.

I made this tart for mother’s day.  I’ve made it several times before, but somehow have yet to post it on the site.  I CAN’T WAIT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU because it’s so easy and so delicious.  Seriously, the best.

In other news one of my favorite blogs of all time is back, or at least came back for a couple of days to explain her absence.  If you’ve seen the “___ All the Things” meme, then you should know it is from an amazingly-written blog called Hyperbole and a Half.  Please do check it out.  This girl can even make depression entertaining.

One last thing that I can’t help but mention is a local restaurant that has recently been getting a lot of attention…

On Thursday something magical happened.  The BF told me about a restaurant that we had visited awhile back that was going to be on Chef Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares.  We don’t usually watch Kitchen Nightmares, but we were excited to see how this particular restaurant played out.  Unless you have been under a rock for the last week, you undoubtedly know where this story is going.

Basically, after poor yelp reviews from “internet bullies”, this poor delusional woman called Chef Ramsay to come and redeem her restaurant and show the world how amazing their food is.  Needless to say, Chef Ramsay did not tell the world that her food was amazing, and she basically had a meltdown.  You can watch the trainwreck here.

Following her TV meltdown, there was an even greater social media meltdown, where their social media sites were filled with negative comments from “internet bullies” (to be fair, this time they really were internet bullies), but also with their own super classy replies.  Unfortunately, I cannot post any of their replies here, as they are not really… “appropriate.”  Eventually, they claimed that they didn’t post any of the retorts on Facebook, that their Facebook had actually been hacked, and that the FBI was working on finding who was responsible.  Which makes sense, since I heard that Facebook hacking is really high on the FBI’s priorities.

In closing, more GIFs!  Because… RED PANDAS!

And we all know how I feel about red pandas.

Summer has arrived in Arizona, with our highs consistently in the upper 90s and 100s I know that no-burn days a right around the corner.  No burn days are these horrible things that were invented to prevent humans  from enjoying delicious s’mores.  They SAY it’s for air quality, but I’m pretty sure they just hate happiness.

And s’mores.

So every summer these terrible days stand between me and a delicious s’more… and trust me, you DO NOT want to be between me and my dessert.  That is not a safe place for anyone to be.

So what can I do?  Plan ahead.

A good contingency plan can be the difference between life and death, people.  LIFE AND DEATH.

So how will I feed my s’more addiction when I can’t roast marshmallows?  HOW!?

BF came to the rescue on this one, when he sent me this post from Buzzfeed.  I was not surprised to see that I had all of the necessary ingredients on hand.

Thus I discovered what is one of the easiest and most delicious snacks of all time.  The only thing that would have made it better is if I had Golden Grahams in the pantry.  I think they would’ve actually worked better than just the crushed graham crackers, but then maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to make this again.

I used  this “simply salted” popcorn which has just a hint of salt, leaving it like a blank canvas on which to paint my flavor brush.  Sure popping popcorn isn’t rocket science, but when it means one less pan to clean, how can I resist?

I can’t.

S’more Popcorn

Makes about 10 cups s’more popcorn

Printable Recipe

• 1 3-oz. bag microwave popcorn, popped (or 10 cups popped popcorn)
• 4 Tbsp. butter
• One 10-oz. bag mini marshmallows, divided
• 1 sleeve graham crackers (9 crackers) or a generous sprinkling of Golden Grahams cereal
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips
• Salt to taste

1. Pop popcorn according to package directions – 2 minutes and 25 seconds is the magic time in case you were wondering.  At least for our microwave it seems to be.  You could also pop popcorn on the stovetop if you wanna be all old-fashioned-like.  Spread popcorn on a parchment-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with crumbled graham crackers.

2. Heat butter, half of the chocolate chips, and half of the marshmallows in the microwave until the butter is melted, stir to combine.

3. Drizzle marshmallow mixture evenly over the popcorn and toss to combine.

4. Once the popcorn is well-coated with the marshmallow mixture, add the unmelted marshmallows and chocolate chips and toss everything together.  Sprinkle with additional salt to taste.

5. Let cool completely then transfer to a paper bag for storage (in the unlikely event that you have any left)

[ Adapted from BuzzFeed ]

Why hello there, confetti.

Remember that glorious confetti cake that I made myself for my birthday?  This, my friends, is that very same cake.

Well, in cookie form.

They taste a lot like sugar cookies, but with confetti cake crumbs inside.  If you like sugar cookies, you will LOVE these confetti cookies.

Love.

See that soft, chewy center and all those colorful sprinkles?  How can you resist?

If you’re lucky enough to live in NYC, you can enjoy these in person at the infamous Momofuku Milk Bar.  If, like me, you are not so lucky, you will have to make them yourself.

Momofuku Confetti Cookies

Printable Recipe

For the crumb:

• ½ cup granulated sugar

• 1 ½ Tablespoons brown sugar, tightly packed

• ¾ cup cake flour

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

• 2 Tablespoons rainbow sprinkles

• ¼ cup grapeseed oil

• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

For the cookies:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar

• 1 Tablespoon light corn syrup

• 2 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

• ⅔ cup powdered milk

• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt

• ¼ cup rainbow sprinkles

• 1 generous cup cake crumb

Make the crumb:

1. Heat oven to 300ºF

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the sugars, flour, baking powder, salt,and sprinkles.  Mix on low speed until combined.  Stream in the oil and vanilla and continue mixing until well-combined.

3. Spread crumbs onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The crumbs should be slightly moist to the touch; they will dry and harden as they cool.

* Crumbs can be made up to 1 week before the cookies

Make the Cookies

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until soft.  Add the sugars and corn syrup and cream on medium-high for 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the eggs ,one at a time, beating for a few seconds after each to combine.  Scrape down the bowl again and add the vanilla, beat again on medium-high speed for 7 minutes.  The mixture will be amazingly fluffy.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, milk powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and rainbow sprinkles.  Once your butter and sugars are completely creamed, add the flour mixture in two additions and mix on low speed for 1 minute, just to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.  Add the cooled cake crumb and mix on low for about 30 seconds, just to combine.

3. Portion out the dough into desired scoops onto a parchment-lined sheet pan.  A small cookie scoop will yield a 3-inch cookie, a ¼ cup portion will yield a giant cookie (see the cornflake cookies for more description).  Press the tops of the cookie dough domes flat. Wrap the pan with plastic wrap and place in the freezer to chill for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 month.  Once frozen, you can transfer them to a freezer-safe plastic bag for storage.

4. When ready to bake, heat oven to 375ºF

5. Arrange the chilled dough on parchment-lined pan, leaving room for cookie spread.  If using ¼ cup scoops, no more than 4 cookies per sheet, up to 8 if using the small-sized cookie scoop.

6. Bake cookies for 10 minutes (small scoop) to 15  minutes (large scoop).  They should be lightly browned around the edges.  I left mine slightly underbaked so they were softer and more cake-like (since this is a “confetti cake” cookie)

7. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

[ Adapted from the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook ]

As it often does, life latched onto me hard for the last couple weeks leaving me no time for blogging as I was busy landscaping, remodeling, and working… I’ve barely had time to bake, let alone blog!

When the house is a mess (even from a small project) my whole groove is off and I can’t focus on anything until the house is back in order.  Like the clutter just messes up my whole rhythm, messes up my feng shui or something, I don’t know quite how to explain it…

Does anyone else have that problem?  Or am I just a crazy person?

It’s probably better if you don’t answer that…

Although we did manage to get thing put back together last weekend, and I even managed to make some stuff, but I still had no time to sit down and actually write a post, and no time for our Thursday Things.  But I promise, I haven’t forgotten about you.

In fact, I actually kinda missed you guys…

So, despite my Cinco de Mayo roundup, our taco plans fell through and I ended up throwing together a last minute Chipotle Burger for Cinco de Mayo dinner…

They are similar to this recipe from awhile back, but with spicy colby jack cheese – yes that’s a thing apparently – and chipotles and adobo mixed straight into the beef.

Super tasty.

And yes, that’s a store-bought bun.  Wanna know the secret to making a store-bought bun extra delicious?  Grilling it!  Seriously, try it out next time.  Brush it with some butter or olive oil, or (in this case) chipotle mayo… and grill it.  On a piece of foil though, or else a lot of the bun will stay on the grill…

I’ve been mostly making quick things, like I discovered these chicken tenders in the frozen food aisle at Trader Joe’s and recreated BF’s favorite buffalo chicken sliders from a local restaurant.  Cost at the restaurant: $10.25  for 3 tiny sliders vs $7.49 for a WHOLE BAG OF TENDERS… yeah, clearly this is the way to go.

For these I just took regular dinner rolls, split them, made some quick cole slaw (for crunch) and tossed the cooked tenders in buffalo sauce – It took literally like no time.  I think like 20 minutes for those tenders to cook and the rest was done by the time they were out of the oven.

Seriously, this chicken works for so many things, and I love that it’s so fast and easy that even BF used it to make some chicken parmesan one night!

Anything that gets the BF to cook dinner is a win in my book!

Then I used the leftovers and made an assortment of french bread pizzas (including a buffalo chicken one!) – left to right is

1. Bolognese pizza – Bolognese sauce and cheese

2. Buffalo chicken pizza – Chopped chicken tenders, buffalo sauce, and cheese

3. Spinach/Kale white pizza – TJ’s new spinach/kale dip and cheese

Also, since I’ve banned myself from buying cereal (because we have no less than 10 boxes of cereal, all different flavors, all opened), I’ve made it my mission to finally finish off what is left… so that I can buy more flavors (it’s almost an addiction, really, DID YOU KNOW THEY MADE CHOCOLATE CAPTAIN CRUNCH!? I NEED IT!).

My most recent success was this peanut butter chocolate cereal using chocolate Fiber One (which is actually not as bad as you would think, although I don’t think it tastes like Cocoa Puffs like the article I read claimed) and delicious Peanut Butter Toast Crunch!  Chocolate and peanut butter for breakfast?  WHO COULD SAY NO TO THAT?

Not this girl, that’s for sure.

I’m also trying to get back to my gym routine, I went a little overboard at my first attempt a week or two ago and ended up pretty much unable to move for a whole week.  So, I decided to ease myself in this week, and I’ve been going every other day (for, ya know, 3 times) and it’s working out pretty good.

In other news, slightly less food-related news, I did a happy dance when I opened my email the other day and saw this:

Yes, I realize it’s just twitter, which I mostly just use as another outlet to assault people’s eyes with my instagram pictures, and that it’s probably not even her and just some PR intern… but I still got warm fuzzies inside.

Just sayin’.

If you don’t know about Aida, she’s kinda a big deal, and I’ve been crushing super hard on her blog lately which is filled to the top with some actually pretty nutritious (and very delicious) recipes, like this super tasty avocado toast.

Whatever you do, don’t make this.

Sure, it seems harmless enough.  It’s just some cashew butter… What’s the harm in that?

With the first bite you’ll be impressed by the texture, second bite, “ooh, that chocolate is a really good addition,” third bite “ooh, I can taste a little salt in there too…”

Using it to dip some banana or apple in, smearing a bit on some toast.  Maybe dunking a graham cracker or two…

Next thing you know it’s gone and you’re torn between the shock of, “Did I just eat a whole container of cashew butter?” followed by the panic of realizing, “MY GOD, THERE IS NO MORE CASHEW BUTTER!”

You’ll know you’re in real trouble, though, when you’re standing at the counter eating the second batch straight out of the jar with a spoon… totally not speaking from experience.

Like I said, this is serious stuff.

Well, I put those graham crackers in there for the picture… it’d be a real shame to waste them.  Might as well eat the rest of them too, since they’re already on the plate.

Chocolate Cashew Butter

Makes about 8 ounces cashew butter (mine fit into my 8 ounce mason jar)

Printable Recipe

• 2 cups (about 8 ounces) cashews*
• 1 ounce chocolate, milk or dark, chopped (or a tablespoon or two of mini chocolate chips)
• 1 teaspoon virgin coconut oil
• salt, to taste (I added about a 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt)

1.  Place 2 cups cashews (or nut of your choice) into the food processor.  Blend continuously until they break down into a butter form.  This will take awhile and you will need to scrape down the sides a few times.  They will go from nuts, to chopped nuts, to something resembling almond meal, then to the consistency of chunky peanut butter, then to a smoother consistency.

2.  Once smooth, add the chopped chocolate and coconut oil and continue blending and scraping until it is completely blended.

3.  Taste and add salt as desired, blend and scrape down the sides one last time to incorporate the salt.

Can be stored at room temperature up to 3 days, or refrigerated for about a month (I’ve seen other sites say up to 3 months).

* You can use any nut you like, roasted or raw, but roasted nuts will give a more pronounced nut flavor (raw cashews basically just hold onto the chocolate and stay pretty neutral in flavor) – Just make sure to use unsalted so that you can control how much salt goes into the butter. (If you’re feeling adventurous, give honey-roasted peanuts a try, you might not even need  want to add the chocolate with that one.)

* Use more or less chocolate, milk or dark, to your taste, or omit the chocolate all together.  Other things that mix well – honey, maple, cinnamon, etc.

[ Adapted from How Sweet Eats ]

I’ve been super busy lately, so I’m sorry that I missed our Thursday chat, but I hope to make it up to you with some stellar Cinco de Mayo recipes for you to make this weekend.

Cinco de Mayo is technically Sunday, but I’m pretty sure you can celebrate starting today (I know I will!)

We wills tart with the easiest (and most delicious) salsa you will ever make from yours truly right here at Wee Eats

Cilantro Lime Hummus from Elephant Eats

Cheesy Mexican Corn Dip from Kitchen Simplicity

Bakes Southwestern Egg Rolls from Nutritious Eats

Loaded Chicken Enchilada Soup from A Periodic Table

Achiote Roasted Pork Tacos from Gonna Want Seconds

Achiote Grilled Fish Tacos from Spoon Fork Bacon

Salsa Verde Chicken Tostadas from Skinny Taste

Chicken Enchilada Pizza from Gimme Some Oven

Nachos with Strawberry, Mango, and Avocado Salsa from FoodieCrush

Churros from Annie’s Eats

Tequila Watermelon Popsicles (you could call them “paletas”) from Love & Olive Oil

Blood Orange Margarita from Honest Cooking

Strawberry Margaritas for One from Pass the Sushi

Agua Fresca (for the Alcohol-Free crowd) from How Sweet Eats

Summer is upon us!  Yes, I realize that summer doesn’t officially arrive until June, but our high today is 100.  And tomorrow?  103.

So yeah, it’s hot and I’m sad and I probably won’t go outside again until October.  Not if I can help it, at least.

Needless to say I found the perfect way to cool down – vanilla ice cream swirled with strawberries and angel food cake.

It’s best to make the strawberry swirl first, that way it has time to adequately chill before you add it to the ice cream.

Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream

Makes 1 quart

Printable Recipe

• 1 recipe vanilla ice cream (below)
• 1 recipe strawberry sauce (below) or good quality strawberry jam
• 1 cup angel food cake or pound cake, cut into ½-inch cubes
• 1 gallon-sized storage bag
• 1 32-ounce freezer-safe storage container

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 ½ ounces (3 Tablespoons) cream cheese, softened)
• 1 ¼ cups heavy cream
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch into 2 tablespoons of the milk.  In a large bowl, whisk the cream cheese, salt, and vanilla bean paste until smooth.  Fill another large bowl with ice water.

In a large saucepan, combine the remaining milk with the heavy cream, sugar, and corn syrup.  Bring the milk mixture to a boil and cook over medium heat until the sugar, about 4 minutes.  Remove the pan from the burner and gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture.  Return the milk mixture to a boil and cook over medium-high heat for exactly 1 minute. The mixture will be slightly thickened.

Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth.  Let cool slightly and transfer to a gallon-sized ziploc bag.  Submerge the bag in the ice water and let stand until cold, about 20 minutes.  Once chilled you can dry the bag and put it in the refrigerator until ready to mix, or up to one day.

When ready to churn your ice cream, snip the corner off of the bag and empty into an ice cream maker; freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Pack the ice cream into your storage container (a 32-ounce ziploc storage container is the perfect size), layering with the strawberry swirl and the cake cubes. (ice cream, then strawberry, then cake, repeat).

Press a sheet of plastic wrap or parchment paper directly onto the surface of the ice cream and close with an airtight lid. Freeze the vanilla ice cream until firm, about 4 hour

For the Strawberry Swirl

• 2 cups strawberries, hulled (I actually used frozen because my fresh strawberries weren’t as ripe as I’d have liked)
• 1 cup granulated sugar

Bring berries and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan over medium high heat.

Continue boiling until berries break down and a thick sauce forms (5 to 8 minutes), stirring occasionally.

Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until ready to use.

[ ice cream recipe adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home ]